1. POVERTY PROFILE OF THE
SAARC COUNTRIES

2. 1.Poverty Profile of Nepal
DATA ANALYSIS
 The first attempt to define and quantify the level of poverty in Nepal
was made by the National Planning Commission in 1976-77.
 The minimum subsistence levels of income and expenditure were
used for delineation of the poverty line.
 An income level of Rs. 2 per capita per day at 1976-77 prices was taken
as the minimum subsistence level.
 This criterion at that time gave a poverty estimate of 40.3% (1976-77).
 Poverty was estimated to be 40% of the population in 1988-89.
 The poverty line adopted for 1988-89 was Rs. 210 per capita per month
in the Hill areas and Rs. 197 per capita per month in the Terai areas.
 UNDP’s Human Development Index (HDI) 2013, 44% of the
population are still under the poverty line

3.  With the commencement of the Eight Five year Plan (1992-97), Nepal proposes
to use COPMPOSITE INDEX to assess the magnitude of poverty for purposes of
targeting its poverty alleviation programs.
 Over 30 per cent of Nepalese live on less than US$14 per person, per month,
according to the national living standards survey conducted in 2010-2011. While
the overall poverty rate for Nepal is 25 per cent.
 Nepal remains one of the poorest countries in the world, with a Human
Development Index of 0.463 (Low human dev.), placing it 157th out of 187
countries listed in the United Nations Development Program’s Human
Development Report 2013 and in 7th position among the SAARC Country.
 The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) based on the pervasiveness of
environmental deprivations among the multidimensionally poor on the issues
of lack of improved cooking fuel, drinking water and sanitation, places Nepal
on the category of countries with the lowest share of environmental
deprivations among the multidimensionally poor.

4. • The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) based
on the pervasiveness of environmental
deprivations among the multidimensionally poor
on the issues of lack of improved cooking fuel,
drinking water and sanitation, places Nepal on the
category of countries with the lowest share of
environmental deprivations among the
multidimensionally poor.
 Between 1980 and 2012, Nepal’s HDI value increased
from 0.234 to 0.463.

5. Social indicators
• Poor rural people, large families, very small landholdings
and illiteracy.
• Food insecurity, poor nutrition.
• Most rural households have little or no access to primary
health care, education, safe drinking water, sanitation or
other basic services.
• Prone to landslides, floods, glacial meeting.
• Social discrimination.
• lack of economic opportunity and conflicts

6. 2.POVERY PROFILE OF INDIA
 The recommended poverty line for the year 1973-74 was Rs.
49.90 per capita per capita per month for the rural
population and Rs, 56.64 per capita per month for the
urban population.
 National Planning Commission (1979), defined poverty line
as the expenditure level which met the average per capita
daily calorie intake of 2400 calorie for rural areas and 2100
calorie for urban area.
 In India, according to official estimates, the poverty ratio
was 29.9% in 1987-88 whereas an alternative independent
estimate by a group of Indian scholars put it at 45.9% for
the same year.

7.  A study by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development
Initiative using a Multi-dimensional Poverty Index (MPI)
found that there were 421 million poor living under the
MPI in Bihar, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh,
Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. This
number is higher than the 410 million poor living in the 26
poorest African nations.
 Official figures estimate that 27.5% of Indians lived below
the national poverty line in 2004-2005.

8.  A 2007 report by the state-run National Commission for
Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector (NCEUS) found that
77% of Indians, or 836 million people, lived on less than 20
rupees (approximately US$0.50 nominal; US$2 PPP) per day.
 According to a recently released World Bank report, India is
on track to meet its poverty reduction goals. However by
2015, an estimated 53 million people will still live in extreme
poverty and 23.6% of the population will still live under
US$1.25 per day
 This number is expected to reduce to 20.3% or 268 million
people by 2020.
 place it 136th (0.554, med) out of 187 countries listed in
the United Nations Development Program’s Human
Development Report 2013 and in 3rd position among the
SAARC Country

9. 3. POVERTY PROFILEOF
PAKISTAN
• Ranked 147th out of 187 countries (0.515,low HD)listed in
the United Nations Development Program’s Human
Development Report 2013 and in 6th position among the
SAARC Country
• Poverty line -income needed to obtain the recommended
average of 2540 calories per capita per day.
• The daily per capita calorie supply was estimated at 2320 in
1987-88.
• The incidence of poverty is estimated to have been 54% in
1962, 21% in 1979 and 20% in 1984.

10. • low literacy rate, high sensitivity mortality rate and poor
access to health and sanitation.
 Political instability, underutilized human other resources.
 Unequal distribution of land.

11. Poverty profile of Maldives.
 Specific poverty estimates are not available for Maldives.
 Poverty measured on the basis of average calorie intake or
poverty line determined by purchasing power either does not
exist or its incidence may be negligible.
 Maldives ranked 94th among the countries listed in the
Human development Report which ranked 2nd among the
SAARC Country.
 GDP 7%, Unemployment Rate-28.1%, Literacy Rate- 93.8%.
(2012)

12. 5.POVERTY PROFILE OF BHUTAN
 The economy is dependent primarily agriculture.
 95% of the population living in the rural areas, spread thinly over
mountains and valleys.
 the life expectancy at birth of 48.9 and an infant mortality rate of
134 per 1000.
 Ranked 140th in the Human development Index out of the 187
countries listed in the Human Development Report and 4th
among the SAARC .
 Majority of the population lives at a subsistence level, there is no
serious shortage of food supply. In Fact, independent surveys
indicate that Bhutan enjoys a relatively high calorie intake in
South Asia.

13. 6. POVERTY PROFILE OF
BANGLADESH
 146th place among 187 countries in terms of Human Development
Index (HDI) and 5th among the SAARC nations, scoring 0.515
(low) HDI values
 one of the world's most densely populated countries with 150
million people, 26 percent of whom live below the national
poverty line of US $2 per day.
 the country's economy has grown 5-6% per year since 1996.
 Still remains a poor, overpopulated, and inefficiently-
governed nation.
 45% of the Bangladesh is being employed in the agriculture
sector

14.  The world Bank ,June 2013 Report- reduced poverty from 63
million in 2000 to 47 million in 2010, despite a total
population that had grown to approximately 150 million.
 Bangladesh will reach its first United Nations-established
Millennium Development Goal, that of poverty reduction,
two years ahead of the 2015 deadline.
 Since the 1990s, there has been a declining trend of poverty
by 1 percent each year.
 According to the 2010 household survey by the Bangladesh
Bureau of Statistics, 17.6 percent of the populations were
found to be under the poverty line.
 80 percent of the population living in rural areas.
 An estimated 36 percent of the population in rural areas lives
below the poverty line.

15.  own a small plot of land and some livestock, their diets
lack nutritional value, health problems or natural
disasters, they are at risk of sliding deeper into poverty.
 Women are among the poorest of the rural poor,
especially when they are the sole heads of their
households.
 Suffer from discrimination and have few earning
opportunities, and their nutritional intake is often
inadequate.
 49% of the population still remains below the poverty
line

16. 7.POVERTY PROFILE OF
SRILANKA.
• Ranked in 92th position and 1st (0.715, high HD)among the
SAARC Country.
• it enjoys the lowest infant mortality rate in the SAARC
region.
• Sri Lanka has been recognized as one of the few countries
where free health and education are available to all citizens
without discrimination for more than six decades.
• Sri Lanka has been experiencing moderate growth in
its GDP averaging 5.5% per annum between 2006 and 2009.
 According to the World bank, 42% of Sri Lanka’s population
lives on under US$2 a day in 2005 compared with 6% living
under US$1 a day.

17.  90% of the poor live in rural areas, with over 80% of Sri
Lanka’s population still living in rural areas, but in 2013 it has
showed that the economy is growing rapidly than any other
Asian country.
 Poor are more likely to involved in Agriculture, less educated,
 positive correlation between poverty and unemployment;
that the poor devote a very large proportion of their
consumption expenditure to food.

18. POVERTY PROFILE OF
AFGHANISTAN.
 Ranked in 175th position among the 187th country and 8th
(0.374, low)position among the SAARC country.
 Afghans see poverty primarily as the absence of adequate
financial means; they also see poverty as being linked to poor
access to services and being marginalized.
 Afghan Pilot Participatory Poverty Assessment (APPPA)
stated, “the one who doesn’t have security, money, land,
health, power or education… they are poor” AND “the poor
cannot even find a piece of dry bread for their children; no
one respects them”.

19.  36 percent of the population lives under the poverty line
(poverty headcount rate), which means that 9 million
Afghans cannot afford the $25 per capita per month equal to
the standard required 2,100 calories per person per day and
other nonfood requirements.
 45 percent of the poor are unable to purchase sufficient food
and 20 percent of the people are transient poor.
 In 2005, the national poverty rate was 30 percent.
 However, the national poverty rate rose to 36 percent at the
national level in 2007/8.

20. Comparison of HDI of SAARC Countries